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Tim’s Comments: "Being holed up in a freezing cold house during those long, dark winter days and nights of January and February (remember them?), I got taken by the muse - and with nearly numb fingers pressing down on cold strings wrote a collection of seven songs on acoustic guitar - not bad for a drummer, eh?
I visited Ted Turner Music with the (possible) idea of buying some recording equipment. I soon got the feeling that the technical side of my brain was not up to its creative one. Philip, the boss, did his best to explain the various electronics but like Musak it was seeping in one ear and drifting out the other. Happily for me, Philip told me he had set up his own recording studio and seemed to know his stuff. Thus it was that I provisionally booked in a couple of sessions.
What I particularly liked was the personal attention of Philip, which included a meeting in his own time to discuss the nature of the recording, what was expected, how to achieve the best results etc. I did (eventually) heed his advice on the number of songs we could reasonably do, three was all that my budget would allow (and at reasonable recording rates too!).
I’ve been in recording studios for nearly thirty years (no not constantly - like some sensory-deprived inmate!), usually behind the kit but in the last fifteen or so as a vocalist too. I have also recorded flute, guitar and keyboard. But this was the first time I planned to play everything myself.
The first session, as one might find, didn’t appear to be satisfying. This did prompt me to do more homework. If you are working alone you really must have a sense of the finished piece; you are the composer, musician(s), arranger and arbiter of good taste. Philip will guide you here and it’s best to listen. He’ll give as much or as little input as you wish, but there’ll certainly be some.
The second session was more rewarding as extra parts were laid on the basic guitar foundation. After finishing the session I handed over the project to Philip; whom, at my request, put on an extra keyboard part.
The first ‘test’ master I received sounded pretty damn good and I was especially pleased with the vocal sound. I wasn’t pleased with some of my solo guitar part and carefully went through each track making notes of what I wanted taken out. Philip duly obliged and boosted the overall loudness of the songs. And it does sound good, all modesty apart.
I’ve played the tracks to a few people now and folks are impressed. The songs are fairly simple and the production is necessarily light but the quality of the recording is very good indeed. The guitar sounds smooth and distinct from various added licks, and solos, the vocals are very fresh and bright.
I intend to record a whole album in the near future (my Fields of England CD, out in April, was recorded in North Devon) and look forward to a positive working relationship with Philip as both Engineer and Producer (maybe a few keyboard parts too!)."
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